


Driver's Ed

by omgericzimmermann (HMSLusitania)



Series: Mechanics of Poetry [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, maine roadtrips are bad for Nursey's mental health, nursey's got a secret, there is bickering about music, unrepentant stupid fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 16:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6914071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSLusitania/pseuds/omgericzimmermann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dex and Nursey drive to Maine for the summer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Driver's Ed

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first (finished) work in this fandom and the idea wouldn't leave me alone so, sorry about that. But I had fun. Unbetad because I wrote it in fifteen minutes. 
> 
> come cry with me about these stupid hockey players on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com).

It happens when they’re almost in Portland. Dex, Nursey discovers, lives way the fuck on the other side of Maine, New Brunswick-adjacent, rather than close to civilisation. They’ve been driving for three hours or so, and since he’s riding shotgun, Nursey has been in charge of the stereo. His tastes run to the indie side of things and Dex’s hands have been getting progressively tighter on the steering wheel as the Lumineers get further into their “hey hos” and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros get twangier.

“You know, when I was a kid, I thought Maine was kinda like Narnia,” Nursey says, slouching on the bench seat of Dex’s pickup. It’s battered and has clearly been through some shit, but Dex being Dex has kept it in good repair. Everything works exactly like it’s supposed to, it’s just not pretty to look at.

“What?” Dex asks, giving Nursey that look, the one that says, “how are you actually a real person?” Dex gives Nursey that look a lot.

“I thought it was just like some place that Stephen King made up, you know?” Nursey says.

“No,” Dex replies, still looking baffled. “Aren’t you from New York? That’s nearby, even.”

“Yeah, but like, New York is not actually part of New England,” Nursey points out. “Just because y’all have some weird cult going where Boston is your only functional city--”

“That’s a shot,” Dex says, and Nursey obligingly marks it off in the pocket notebook he keeps. He doesn’t think Bitty or Jack know, but every time one of the other members of the SMH team says either “y’all” or “eh” they have to take a shot at their earliest possible convenience. Over the three hours they’ve been driving, Nursey is up to four, Dex two.

The radio through Nursey’s phone starts playing “Paint” by the Paper Kites and Dex looks like he’s going to scream.

“Okay, I can’t take it anymore,” he says, pulling off the freeway and turning off the car. Nursey stares at him. The music had stopped as soon as the engine was off. “Your turn to drive, because I can’t take your music anymore.”

“Yo chill, brah, you’ve got to get used to it since we’re living together next year,” Nursey says. He wonders if Dex can see the embarrassment on his face.

“We agreed headphones next year,” Dex says. He opens the door on his side of the cab and then looks at Nursey, clearly wondering why he’s not getting out.

“It’s chill, man, I can change the music,” Nursey says, flipping through his library. He would’ve assumed that someone as tightly wound as Dex would appreciate mellow music, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

“I’m tired of driving anyway,” Dex says. His door is still open, and Nursey can feel his chill slipping.

“Yeah, but, like, I don’t know where we’re going,” Nursey says.

“I can give you directions,” Dex points out. “I happen to know the coastline of Maine like the back of my hand.”

“Can you actually count the freckles on your hand?” Nursey asks. He’s stalling now, well and truly stalling.

“What?” Dex asks. “Dude, it’s just a figure of speech.”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Nursey says. It’s full panic now. Full panic and he doesn’t know how to deal.

“Are you okay?” Dex asks, frowning at him. “What? Do you not know how to drive stick?”

“Uh,” Nursey says, glancing at the gearshift. “That’s – that’s one way to put it.”

Dex is silent for a moment, and Nursey can see the dawning realisation in his eyes.

“Nursey, can I see your wallet?” Dex asks.

Nursey, now blushing in addition to panicking, hands it over. Dex flips it open and looks unsurprised by the various fake IDs Nursey’s got, although it’s not like he ever gets carded anyway. One of the benefits of having perpetual five o’clock shadow even when it’s eleven in the morning: you can totally buy booze at the age of twenty.

And then Dex finds his actual legally binding ID card. As far as Nursey knows, it’s the fully standard ID – terrible picture; name Nurse, Derek M; Birthday 14 Feb. 1996; height 6’2”, weight approximately 200 pounds; home address in Uptown Manhattan. But there’s just the one problem.

“Oh my god you don’t have a driver’s licence,” Dex says. “Oh my god, oh my--”

“I grew up in Manhattan!” Nursey insists, well aware that he’s blushing brighter than Dex ever does. “We’ve got more cabs than people and the subway and busses if you want to be that guy and--”

“Shitty said that there was driver’s ed at Andover!” Dex says, and he’s laughing. He’s laughing harder than Nursey has ever heard him laugh.

“It was an optional thing and I opted out,” Nursey mumbles. “Please stop laughing at me.”

“Sorry,” Dex snorts, clearly trying to contain it and doing a piss poor job. He takes a deep breath. “Sorry. Okay. We’re good.”

He keeps snickering under his breath as he restarts the car and pauses before they leave the parking lot to change out Nursey’s phone for his own so that he can play music that won’t make him go insane.

“You know what this means though,” he says as they regain I-295.

“You’re going to chirp me until I die?” Nursey guesses.

“Well, sure,” Dex agrees. “But mostly it means I’m going to have to teach you to drive.”

Nursey looks over at Dex, who’s much more relaxed now that the music playing from the stereo is slightly angry. He’s got the window rolled down and his elbow resting on the window frame, the wind blowing his hair around. He’s still smiling and Nursey feels something catch in his chest. Suddenly, it seems like it’s going to be a very long summer.

**Author's Note:**

> I am not overly familiar with the song "paint" by the Paper Kites. It was the first thing that showed up on the Indie Folk Revival station on Pandora because I do not listen to this sort of music (because it makes me angry). Comments are super welcome!


End file.
